Heed the Orphans
by Aini NuFire
Summary: While on a case, Claire stumbles upon Jack, lost and disoriented in the woods. Apparently he was working the same case too, with Castiel—who's now missing.


**A/N: For addictofanimation.**

**Disclaimer: Not mine. Thanks to 29Pieces for beta reading!**

* * *

"Heed the Orphans"

Claire pulled into the parking lot outside the coroner's office and parked. Before getting out, she pulled the visor down to check her makeup in the mirror, making sure the healing bruise on her cheek was still covered up. Not that she couldn't pass it off as having gotten it while arresting a dangerous felon, but since she already had to deal with people looking down on her apparent youth—okay, real youth—it was just easier this way.

She got out of the car, already wearing a blazer and white shirt for her FBI guise, and headed inside to inquire about the bodies that had turned up with their brains melted. She got a skeptical double look upon introducing herself as Agent Prentiss, which wasn't unexpected but still annoying. She knew how to sound authoritative though and asked to see the bodies.

The medical examiner led her to the morgue and gestured at the latest victim laid out on the slab. The others were in cold storage, though the numbers of the drawers were in the files if Claire wanted to take a look. Each of the victims had been reported missing a few days prior to being found, brains reduced to mush inside their skulls. Claire wrinkled her nose at the description in the autopsy notes. And, ugh, the pictures.

But she made a show of studying each and every detail until the medical examiner left her to it, and then she quickly pulled out her EMF reader to check for ghost signatures. The device whirred quietly, so that wasn't it. She inspected each of the bodies for sulfur but didn't detect that either. That left probably witch.

It had been a few days and no new missing persons reports had been filed, but that didn't mean there wasn't another victim out there, maybe someone who wouldn't be missed. The bodies had all been found in different locations but they'd all been in the woods, so Claire decided to head out there and take a look around.

She parked at a trail head and climbed into the backseat to change out of her FBI threads, then gathered her knapsack of gear and set off. Why would a witch dump bodies in the middle of the woods? Maybe it was a group of witches performing some kind of sacrificial ritual. Hm, that could prove problematic. But Claire wasn't going to call for backup until she knew what she was dealing with, so she pressed on, keeping her eyes peeled through the trees.

She'd been concerned she might stumble upon another dead body, given the timeline; she had not expected to come across an alive young man sitting in the dirt looking disheveled and disoriented.

He blinked up at her as she cautiously approached, brows pinched together in confusion. He canted his head. "Claire?"

She drew her gun and pointed it at him. "How do you know my name?" Witchy stuff, most definitely.

He frowned at the gun more like it was a curious object than one threatening to blow his brains out, then squinted up at her. "I've seen a picture of you on Cas's phone."

Claire faltered. "You know Castiel?"

The young man nodded and started to get up, then hesitated. "I'm Jack."

She stiffened. "The nephilim."

"Technically right now I'm human," he said a tad bitterly. "So I'd appreciate it if you didn't shoot me."

She lowered the gun. "What are you doing out here?"

Jack got to his feet and rubbed the side of his head. "I'm…I don't know. Cas and I were on a case…" He squinted so hard he looked in pain.

"Investigating people with mushy brains?" Claire prompted.

He blinked at her, eyes widening. "Yes."

Claire frowned as she gave him a once-over. "Seems like maybe someone tried to turn your brain to mush too."

His mouth turned down in deep thought. "I don't remember…" He looked around. "Where's Cas?"

"I haven't seen him." Claire swept her gaze around the vicinity as well, but it didn't seem as though the angel was here. "Did you split up?"

"No…" Jack grimaced and pressed a palm to his eyes. "Something happened. But…I can't remember."

"Hey," Claire spoke up, drawing his attention. "My car's not far. Let's get out of these woods."

Jack looked reticent at first but then started to follow, and Claire led him back the way she'd come. When they reached her vehicle, she retrieved a bottle of water and a candy bar from the trunk and handed them to him once he was sitting in the passenger seat and her behind the wheel.

"Just start at the beginning," she said.

He stared at the candy bar for a long moment before taking a bite, and then he chewed slowly as his gaze turned distant. "We came out to investigate the mushy brains," he began. "We checked the morgue first. It wasn't demons or a ghost."

"Yeah, I checked for that too; didn't find any evidence of it," she confirmed. "I'm thinking witch."

Jack straightened at that. "Yes, that's what we thought too. We- we tracked the witch down, but then…"

* * *

_There was a house at the edge of the woods, removed from most of the neighbors. One of the victim's vehicles was parked outside. Cas drew his angel blade._

_"Be ready," he warned._

_Jack nodded, holding his gun loaded with witch-killing bullets._

_They entered the house. It was quiet and seemingly empty, save for a muffled sound coming from the back. They swept through the hallway, checking rooms and finding nothing, until they came to the last one and found a child huddled on a princess canopy bed, crying. She looked up at them with wide, wet eyes._

_"Um," Cas said. "Hello."_

_"Who are you?" she asked._

_"My name is Castiel. This is Jack." Cas hesitated. "Where are your parents?"_

_At that, the five-year-old's face scrunched up with renewed tears. "Gone," she sobbed. "They're gone. They left me alone. I don't want to be alone!"_

_Eerie purple light began to suffuse around her, billowing her hair out in a floating fan. Jack felt Cas stiffen and then the angel threw an arm out to push Jack behind him. There was a pop and sizzle of magic that tingled Jack's skin, and Cas went rigid._

_"Cas!" Jack pulled at his trench coat to see what was happening just as the static began to die down. When Jack managed to yank Cas around, he froze at the flicker of purple light receding from the angel's eyes. "Cas?"_

_Cas stepped away from him, put his blade away, and went to the child, scooping her up in his arms and holding her close. Jack gaped in bewilderment._

_"It's all right," Cas soothed. "You're safe. I'm here."_

_The child clutched at his coat and left a growing wet stain on its front. "Daddy."_

_Jack frowned, but then his eyes widened further when Cas responded,_

_"That's right. I'm here."_

_"Um, Cas?" Something was wrong here. Some kind of spell. "Cas, snap out of it!"_

_Castiel ignored him._

_Jack shook his head. "Okay, I'm calling Sam and Dean." He reached into his pocket for his phone and nearly dropped it when the child shrieked._

_"No! You can't take him away!"_

_Cas swiftly set her down and strode toward Jack with thunderous intent. Jack scrambled backward into the hallway._

_"Cas, wait! What are you doing?"_

_Cas didn't say anything, just bore down on him. Jack retreated into the living room, unsure what to do._

_"Cas, please."_

_There was a glimmer of blue among a flare of purple, and Cas seized Jack's arm. Then the angel pressed two fingers to his forehead and there was nothing._

* * *

"And then I woke up in the woods," Jack finished. He straightened abruptly. "We have to save Cas."

Claire's lips pressed into a thin line. This sounded complicated. But it also sounded like they didn't have time to wait for backup.

"Do you remember where this house is?" she asked.

Jack nodded slowly. "I think so."

Claire stuck the key in the ignition and started up the car. "Then let's go."

She had to drive back toward town before Jack recognized a place to start directing from, but then he pointed out the turns to take.

"What are we supposed to do?" he asked quietly. "Kill a child?"

Claire didn't have an answer for that. Her priority was Castiel and making sure no more people ended up with their brains turned to goo, but…what if that meant making the hard choice?

"There it is," Jack said.

Claire stopped halfway down the drive, not wanting to give away their arrival. She paused to consider what weapons to bring in and found herself suspended with indecision.

Jack pulled out a gun from his coat. "I still have this," he said in a subdued tone.

So Claire grabbed her gun too. "Let's do this."

They climbed out of the car and cautiously approached the house. There were lights on inside. They stopped at the front door and Claire tested the knob; it was unlocked. With a nod to Jack, she cranked the handle and pushed her way in.

A little girl was sitting in the middle of the living room playing with a bunch of dolls. Cas was standing a few feet behind her, looking everything like a guardian angel watching over his charge.

At the abrupt invasion, the child jumped up and scrambled to Cas, clinging to his leg. "No!" she screamed. "Go away!"

Claire hesitated. This was going to be harder than she thought, but the blank look on Castiel's face made her stomach clench even tighter.

Jack crouched down to the girl's eye level, though he didn't try to get closer. "Hey, remember me? My name's Jack."

"Leave us alone!"

"Are you sure?" Jack went on. "'Cause it seems like maybe you don't want to be left alone."

Her eyes filled with tears. "Mommy and Daddy left. They all leave." She buried her face in Castiel's leg. Castiel didn't move at all. "I don't want to be alone."

"Then why do you keep hurting people?" Jack asked.

"I'm not! They leave me."

This wasn't getting them anywhere.

"Maybe we can help you find some relatives," Claire suggested.

The child shrieked. "I won't let you take me away!"

And then Castiel was moving toward them and Jack scrabbled backward. Claire whipped her gun up but hesitated to shoot. Logically she knew lead bullets wouldn't hurt an angel—so why would it stop one?—but she couldn't bring herself to pull the trigger.

And then Castiel swung an arm out and knocked the gun from her hands. It went flying across the room and Claire made to dive after it, but Castiel grabbed her arm and swung her around. She crashed into Jack, taking them both to the floor.

"Cas, please!" Jack shouted. "I know you don't want to hurt us."

Castiel loomed over them, but he stilled and cocked his head the barest fraction. He took a step back.

Jack lurched to his feet. "That's it, Cas. Come back. I need you."

Claire watched nervously as Castiel remained as rigid as a statue.

"No!" the witch child screamed. "You can't leave me!"

The air prickled with growing magic and the room vibrated with it. Claire's hair stood on end and her eyes widened as the kid started to glow with purple energy. Castiel's mouth opened in a silent gasp, purple squiggles erupting across his body and pouring into his eyes.

"No!" Jack yelled.

Claire whipped her attention back to the kid who was practically enveloped in the roaring energy now. Claire felt it growing, recognized the cataclysm for what it was, and grabbed Jack to fling them both down behind a couch. An explosion rocked the air, consuming the high-pitched scream that had preceded it. And then there was silence.

Claire lifted her head and peeked out. The kid was gone, a smattering of ash and embers where she'd been, and Cas was lying on the floor, blood pouring from his ears.

"No," Jack breathed and rushed over, grabbing the angel by the shoulders and shaking him. "Cas."

Claire crawled over as well, recalling some of the details from the autopsy reports. "The people whose brains turned to mush…they must have been under the same spell."

Jack's eyes were wide and terrified, looking every bit the innocent child like that little girl had been. "But he can heal from that, right?"

"Sure." Claire bit her lip at the tremor of doubt she hadn't been able to hold back.

She snatched a pillow off the couch and slid it under Castiel's head, then got up to grab some towels from the bathroom. Even between her and Jack, they'd have trouble getting Castiel out into her car. She came back and knelt next to the angel again and wiped the blood away.

She hadn't seen Castiel in two years, though they'd kept in touch some through texting. It wasn't that she'd been avoiding him; it was just that they were both busy with their own things—Castiel with saving the world and Claire with hunting. But that didn't mean she didn't care.

"Do you think the child is dead?" Jack asked softly.

Claire looked over at the glittering dust on the carpet and winced. "Seems that way."

The kid looked grieved by that. "Why? Why did she do this?"

Claire didn't have an answer, but she wanted one. She got up and went to rifle through the kitchen. There was a stack of mail and a name, so she pulled out her phone and did a web search. The results were disheartening.

"Kid's parents died in a car accident recently," she shared. "Hey, wasn't the first victim a social worker?"

"I think so?" Jack replied.

A social worker who would have come to take the kid away to foster care. Claire felt a pang of sympathy. Her mouth turned down as she put the rest of the pieces together. "The kid was just trying to replace her parents."

Jack's eyes turned sad and his gaze drifted down to Castiel. "She just wanted someone to protect her. She probably didn't even realize what her magic was doing."

Claire had nothing to say to that.

Jack seemed to give himself a small shake. "I should call Sam and Dean." He frowned as he patted his pockets. "My phone's missing."

"You can use mine." She handed it over and listened to Jack leave a message when there was apparently no answer. "It's not like they'd be able to do much," she said when he hung up looking dejected.

"They always know what to do," he whispered.

Claire couldn't help but snort. "They like to pretend they do."

Jack's brows pulled together. "I guess you're right. But they always seem so sure things will work out, and they usually do."

"Cas'll be fine," she said, infusing the right amount of confidence this time. Her hand inched out to take the angel's lax one and gave it a squeeze. _"Come on, Castiel,"_ she prayed. _"You told me once you can feel longing. Well, there's a kid here who's practically screaming with it. So wake up."_

The fingers beneath her palm twitched and Claire straightened. "Castiel?"

Jack lurched onto his knees to lean over him. "Cas?"

Castiel's face scrunched up and he let out a small moan. Then his eyelids fluttered as they fought to open. "Jack," he rasped.

Jack broke into a smile of such giddy relief that Claire almost shook her head in amusement.

Cas's gaze shifted to her and his brows puckered. "Claire?"

"Hey, Castiel," she greeted with a warm smile.

"What- what are you doing here?" He grimaced. "What happened?"

"You don't remember?" Jack asked.

He turned his head to gaze around him. "This…looks familiar. We were on a case…"

Jack nodded enthusiastically. "People were turning up with melted brains. We found a witch, but she was a child, and she cast a spell on you so you'd be her father or something."

Castiel's eyes widened. "I don't remember." He tried to lift his head, only to squeeze his eyes shut and drop back onto the pillow. "Where is the child now?"

"Um, dead, we think," Jack said. "She tried to make you kill us, but you were fighting it, and then she just…" He glanced at Claire.

"Seemed like she had some kind of power overload," she finished. "And…exploded."

Castiel closed his eyes. "She was extremely powerful for one so young," he said remorsefully.

"You're gonna be okay, right?" Jack asked urgently. "Your brain isn't…mush?"

Castiel sighed. "Well, I do feel like an elephant sat on my head, but I'll be fine." He quirked a look at Claire. "What are you doing here?"

"I was looking into the same case you were. Ran into Jack in the woods after you got turned into Stepford Dad and we came back for you."

Castiel's eyes widened as he snapped his attention back to Jack. "Did I hurt you? Did I hurt either of you?"

"No," Jack assured him. "You just knocked me out, tried to erase my memory maybe. But it's okay," he rushed to add at Castiel's horrified expression. "Because I'm fine. You must have been fighting the spell even then, because you could have killed me the first time but didn't."

Castiel reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose with a groan. "I am so sorry, Jack."

Jack, bless his heart, just continued to give that big dopey smile. "I'm fine, really."

Castiel didn't look assuaged, which wasn't surprising. Claire was well familiar with that look of guilt he wore.

"Can you get up?" she asked. "We should probably get out of here."

He nodded and tried to push himself up again, squeezing his eyes shut as he did so. Both Claire and Jack took an arm to help him.

"We'll go slow," she said.

Castiel canted his head to open one eye toward her. "You were hunting by yourself?"

She shrugged one shoulder. If he was going to lecture her, she'd heard it all already and was prepared for it to go in one ear and out the other. No one understood why she needed to do this.

But Castiel didn't say anything for a moment. Then, "You know, Sam's been running an operation of organized hunters out of the bunker for a few months now. It's very efficient. You should think about teaming up with them."

Claire faltered at the unexpected comment. "I'll think about it," she finally said, then flashed him a cheeky grin. "Especially if you guys are gonna need rescuing in the future."

Castiel merely returned a soft smile. "I think we all need rescuing every once in a while."


End file.
